Let us welcome you aboard the sailing vessel MAI LING. Join inveterate coastal cruising sailors Bob and Jinny Clarke for a long weekend get away or for a week or two break. Let the wind tousle your hair. Feel the fresh morning dew. Gaze across rippling blue waters to herons standing by golden marshes.
Explore pristine coastal islands. Photograph remote lighthouses. Snorkel, fish, row, sail, beachcomb. Sunbathe, read a book, look for another life bird. Enjoy really fresh seafood and regional cuisine. Visit fabulous gardens, sail training vessels, quaint museums, historic forts or antique shops. In the summer enjoy the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals at anchor by Fort Adams in clear view of the musicians. Or do nothing. We like to play tour guide or we can launch you on your own ashore. It's your choice.
Our style is to share both the work and the fun. Take your turn in the galley and at the helm. Hoist the sails. We are fair weather sailors with a flair for relaxing adventure and a penchant for sharing experiences and swapping stories. We like what we do and we are good at it.
We are delighted to help land lubbers (with sea legs and imagination) learn the tricks of the trade. Of course, old salts are most welcome also.
*Summer: from Newport, RI Fall/Spring: ICW Winter: Everglades/Key West/ Islands
From $750.00 per person per week for two guests.
DISCOUNT 20% per week for Spring and Fall segments beween Norfolk, Virginia and Melbourne, Florida
Price negotiated individually for Special Event charters.
From $45.00 per person for 2 hour day charters for four guests minimum around lower Narragansett Bay and Newport Harbor.
From $400.00 per person for 3 day / 2 night Narragansett Bay cruises for two guests.
Click on "Details" and scroll to Business Matters for more info.
Join us in Marco Island for Christmas week for a trip into the Everglades and the National Park. Until mid March MAI LING will sail between Marco Island, Key West, the Everglades, and Dry Tortugas. Call us NOW to save time for your 2002 winter vacation.
Sunset from MAI LING en route to Shark River anchorage in the Everglades.
Late March is when MAI LING usually started through the Okechobee Waterway east bound to basically reverse the FALL TRIP. HOWEVER, because of the low level of water in Lake Okechobee in November 2000 we decided early on to take MAI LING via Key West to Miami in March 2001. We booked that trip before I had time to post the schedule change here! Key West to Miami in late March will be a permanent feature of our schedule. This opens up a trip from Miami to Melbourne in early April. We leave mid April from Daytona Beach to reach Little River, SC two days before the last Saturday of April. Mid May we depart Little River for Norfolk via the Outer Banks.....Then from Norfolk to Annapolis in Chesapeake Bay. The final leg north is from Annapolis to Jamestown, RI via upper Chesapeake Bay, The C&D Canal, Deleware Bay, the Jersey shore, New York Harbor, and Long Island Sound to Narragansett Bay.... North bound in the Atlantic ICW we travel with the spring blooms and fragrances. We like to return to RI before the middle of JUNE.
Our happy guest, Peter, at the helm underway in Hawk Channel en route to Maimi.
Depart Jamestown Thursdays thru Sunday 1:00 PM and 2 hours before SUNSET.
Join us for a few hours to capture the magic and majesty of a leisurly sail around Newport Harbor and for a close-up of visiting yachts from all over the world. Sail the Bay and watch the 12 Meters glide gracefully through the waves. Last minute departures from the Jamestown Town Dock can be arranged to fit your schedule. Pick up a picnic lunch on the dock and off we go!
Depart Jamestown Monday after 1:00 PM returning Wednesday afternoon after 3:00 PM
Try a mini cruise in the protected waters of Narragansett Bay. Sail on an even keel. Swim off the boat in a quiet anchorage. Visit the historic waterfront communities of Bristol, Wickford or East Greenwich. Get up close to half a dozen lighthouses. Try you hand at the helm.
The Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals are held at the Fort Adams State Park on the waterfront in Newport on the 1st and 2nd weekends in August. One of the best ways of enjoying the music is at anchor off the park and away from the crowds and parking problems.
Afternoon race on Narragansett Bay.
Narragansett Bay is studded with more than a dozen remarkable lighthouses. Beavertail on Conanicut Island, at the site of the 3rd oldest lighthouse on the east coast, has a lighthouse museum and caretaker in residence. Rose Island Light has been restored and is operated as a B&B and museum and is reachable only by boat. Castle Hill pictured above clings to the rocks adjacent to the Inn at Castle Hill where fine dining is enhanced by close up views of yachts leaving and entering the Bay. The Ida Lewis Yacht Club in Newport Harbor occupies the old Limerock Lighthouse. We enjoy the lure and individuality of lighthouses and weather permitting will be glad to plan a cruise for you to these or others along the east coast. Spring and Fall we are in Long Island Sound and Chesapeake Bay which beckon with numerous distinctive lighthouses and lighthouse museums reachable by boat. Florida has fewer lighthouses but with fantastic locations for a winter vacation: Loggerhead Key and Fort Jefferson at Dry Tortugas, Key West, Sanibel Island and Boca Grande. Lighthouse pictures are posted on the Sail to Lighthouses page. Each picture can be identified by placing cursor on picture. It is my plan to get and post as many photos as possible of East Coast Lighthouses as we travel. Call for more information about planning one of our special trips for Lighthouse aficionados.
If there are no hurricanes to dodge we like to leave Jamestown soon after Labor Day for Annaoplis via Long Island Sound, the East River, the Statue of Liberty and Cape May. After a short layover in Annapolis we head for Norfolk and hope that the Dismal Swamp Canal is open which takes us to Elizabeth City, NC en route to Albemarle Sound. Here a side trip to the Outer Banks, Manteo, the Elizabethian Gardens and more lighthouses is possible!
Around 1 NOVEMBER we are south bound from Little River, SC to Fort Myers, Florida. First passage takes us through all of the quiet Low Country of South Carolina with possible stops at Brookgreen Gardens, Charlestown and Beaufort contiuning on to Hilton Head and Savanah, passing the barrier islands of Georgia and disembarking in Daytona Beach, Florida.
For the Okeechobee Waterway passsage join us in Melbourne, Florida MID NOVEMBER for a trip down the Indian River, up the St Lucie River, through the locks, across the Lake, around a portion of the Rim Route from Clewiston to Moorehaven and down the Caloosahatchee River with a stop in Turkey Creek and a possible stop to see a cloned big cat and disembark Ft Myers, Sanibel, Boca Grande or Englewood !
Join us for all or part of any Event and or Passage.
We are good at last minute planning!
Keep checking for possible changes to the dates and the schedule.
Jinny and Bob Clarke on MAI LING.
As navigator and pilot Jinny will often sit with the chart in her lap and the binoculars at hand. Even when Bob is in an animated discussion or telling a sea story there is always part of him that is fully focused on his responsibilities as MASTER OF THE VESSEL as he is here standing at the helm of MAI LING.
FOR MORE INFO: 401-965-5154 / PO
BOX 505 JAMESTOWN, RI 02835
jinnyandbobclarke@earthlink.net
The quickest way to reach us is by calling our wireless number: 401-965-5154
Also, please remember we are cruising sailors. We may be on the move and we anchor out a lot by preference, often in remote areas. There may be a delay before you receive an initial response from us. Please call back if you do not hear from us in a day or two. Wireless service is excellent but not without a few bugs.
Thank you for your interest in our adventures.